In The Public Eye
by favefangirl
Summary: Tony's bored of being bored and decides to go out and do something. Unfortunately, that something ends pretty bad. Bad for him, at least. And now he has to fix it. This is really short, and probably not even that good, but ah well. Stony with mentions of past Stucky. Peggy's name is never mentioned, but she's the reporter, just BTW.


Tony lazed on the couch leisurely. He was only half watching the screen, which was playing some film that hadn't even been released at the cinema yet. He was attention was more on his phone. It was on the couch arm, and the screen was dark. Not a single message or notification.

He knew he was being paranoid, he always was, but the way Bucky and Steve looked at each other just couldn't be platonic. Tony and Steve had been dating secretly for over a year now, yet he still couldn't shake the feeling that Steve had eyes for someone else.

Bucky had burst back into Steve's life a few months ago. He'd been fighting overseas-where was classified-and had been MIA for quite some time. Then he rocks up out of the blue, in New York, and Steve welcomed him back with open arms. A bit too wide for Tony's liking.

But that wasn't the only reason Tony was anxious. He was also suspicious about how adiment Steve was about staying closeted. Yes, Steve had said many times it was only because he didn't want the military finding out and dishounorably discharging him. But Tony still had his doubts.

A third reason was Tony himself. Despite being a freaking billionaire, he just couldn't compete with most of Steve's friends. They were all muscely, strong army brats who had pretty much everything in comon with him. Plus, they were all super attractive. Plus, they were all around Steve's age. _Plus_ , they had known Steve for years and years, some since he was a child.

Then there was Tony. He had some muscle, but only enough to be fit. He was an orphan, which was just depressing. He had nearly nothing in common with Steve, so much so that their relationship was a freaking mystery. He was considerably older than Steve-being thirty eight to his twenty five. He wasn't _un_ attractive, but compared to the others he was like Ugly Betty. Except a guy version. _And_ he'd only known Steve a year and a half.

But Steve told him not to worry. What they had was special, despite all the things Tony had listed was wrong between them. Steve had deep, deep feelings for him. It didn't matter that they didn't have much in common, opposites attract, right?

But Tony did worry, because of everything that was wrong between them. Because Steve _only_ had deep feelings for him-Tony also had deep feelings for McDonalds, but he'd still dump it for something better. And yes, opposites do attract, but they weren't freaking magnets! Plus, there was Bucky.

Steve was out with his army friends, and Bucky. They were all out, having a good time. Without Tony. Tony was home, alone, wondering why Steve hadn't called yet. He'd promised he'd call. Was in he in touble? Had he been hurt? Were him and Bucky doing it in a bathroom stall? Was it too early to call him yet? Would it be innapropriate to call? Would that make Steve mad at him?

Tony sat up and sighed. This was stupid. What was he doing? It was saturday night and he was Tony Freaking Stark-his full name-he could be anywhere! He was on the list at every social event in New York. He could literally just close his eyes and jab a finger at a map of the state, and still find an event he was invited too. What was he doing home?

He had become a PR nightmare-his _own_ PR nightmare. He had somehow become an introvert in a matter of months, and people had started to notice. Most newspapers had a conspiratal piece written about him, and his Twitter followers had started the hashtag #searchforstark.

 _Screw it_ , Tony thought standing up, _it's only eight thirty. I'll just...go out. It'll be fun. I'll go to that fundraiser for the deaf. That'll look good in the papers tomorrow._ He turned off his TV, and reached for his phone.

He found his new PA-some chick called Natasha-in his contacts, and rang her. It rang only three times before she answered. Her voice sounded croaky, like she'd only just woke up, and she didn't sound happy that he'd rung.

"Natasha, I'm going out!" He exclaimed, before ending the phone call and walking to his bathroom to shower.

Steve was having a _good_ time. It was _fun_. Just him, Bucky and some guys. Everything was _fine_. But _good, fun_ and _fine_ were not the adjectives he used when he was with Tony. Whenever he and Tony spent time together it was incredible, and he never wanted the warm feeling he got to end.

When Bucky came back, Steve couldn't believe it. MIA for nearly three years, he had given up hope. But then he returned. Came back from the dead and invited him out for drinks. Steve had been so overjoyed, he agreed immediately. That's before he remembered how things were before when they went out together. Things would get pretty wild.

That first day, he had to explain they couldn't do those things anymore. He didn't mention Tony, obviously, but just said he wasn't the same man he had been all those years ago. Bucky agreed, saying he wasn't either, and that he understood. Just friends. A-OK.

Steve looked from face to face at all the men he was drinking with, and it hurt him. He didn't quite understand, but oh did he! Him and Tony had been dating secretly for one year, two months and eight days. Not that he was counting or anything, but that had been the best one year, two months and eight days of his life. And all that was thanks to Tony.

Tony who was a billionaire but still ate at local diners, because they had a family type feel to them. Tony who was kind, but liked to pretend it was only an act. Tony who was so ruggedly handsome, yet he was so self concious it was adorable. Tony who liked fast cars and alcohol, but would happily spend _all_ of Saturday watching Star Wars from start to finish. Tony who Steve loved. Tony who Steve was afraid to tell how he felt for fear of scaring him away.

But screw it! Steve was in love with Tony. He thought about him all the time, and couldn't remember ever being so happy before. He felt like everything was perfect when they were together. And he would be damned if he didn't tell Tony that.

"Sorry boys, I just remembered there was somewhere I have to be." Steve said standing up quickly, and downing the rest of his beer.

"You're ditching us?" One of them asked, looking surprised.

"Sorry." Steve shrugged, turning on his heel and hurrying out of the bar.

He hailed a taxi and excitedly said _Stark Towers_ to the driver-perhaps a bit too loudly, but he was a lightweight when it came to drinking. He was actually going to do it, he was actually going to tell Tony how he felt! He was going to tell Tony he loved him! His heart felt like it was going to beat right out of his chest.

"Mr Stark, would you be kind enough to do an interview for us?" A reporter asked.

She was thin and pretty, with dark hair and dark eyes. Her accent was thickly british, and her hair was curled. She was wearing a dark red shade of lipstick, which drew all eyes to her, and specifically her lips.

"Of course!" Tony beamed, "Anything for a pretty lady."

She blushed and turned back to the camera which Tony assumed was rolling and said, "Mr Stark what brings you here today?"

"Free alcohol." Tony replied almost immediately.

Just behind the reporter, Tony could faintly see Natasha give me a thumbs up. This was their angle; billionaire playboy, who drives very fast cars and drinks lots of alcohol. The guys want to be him, and the girls want to date him. Who was he kidding, _everyone_ wanted to date him!

"No, I want to help make a difference. I have so much money, might as well do something good with it." Tony explained, seriously.

Of course, he still had to be likable. They didn't believe in the whole 'any publicity is good publicity' rubbish, bad publicity meant losing money. Good publicity meant making lots of it. And if there was something Tony _really_ liked, it was making money.

"You've been single for quite some time now, why is that?" The reporter asked.

Tony knew without having to be told that this was his queue to flirt, and flirt well. Whenever women mention women, he had to flirt like crazy until they changed the subject. Couldn't have everyone knowing that Tony played for a different team, that would be a nightmare.

"Women are so intimidated by how good I am at kissing." Tony grinned. Natasha wasn't smiling, and Tony took that as her asking for more. "Allow me to demonstrate."

Then he kissed her. He put one hand on the back of her head and the other on her waist, and pressed his lips onto hers softly. Then, as the seconds passed he hardned the kiss, using his tongue to deepen it. He pulled away slowly, keeping his eyes locked on hers.

"Now if you'd excuse me, it's getting rather late. Goodnight." Tony said quietly, and dropped his hands from where they were perviously situated.

The reporter just nodded as Tony walked by her over to Natasha who was grinning. All she did was wink at him as he climbed into his lomousine, and Tony knew he'd done well. He'd come back from his Steve-hiatus with a bang, and Stark had well and truly retuned to the world. He couldn't help grinning as the driver started the vehicle and began to drive off.

Tony had loosened his tie the second he had got into the elevator, knowing he wouldn't meet any reporters when he got back to his apartment. Already, Twitter had exploded with tweets about him, and Tony couldn't stop grinning.

Smiling, he would learn as he stepped off the elevator and into his aparment, was a bad idea. Because waiting inside, having just witnessed his boyrfriend kiss some reporter live on international television, was Steve. He was sat on Tony's couch, anger radiating from his body at what he had just seen.

Tony went around flirting with anything with a pulse, yet had the audacity to accuse _Steve_ of being the unfaithful one! What a hypocrite. Steve's best friend had just returned from the dead, and he wanted to catch up, and all of the sudden they were having a big affair. But it was fine for Tony to just make out with every pretty girl he meets.

Tony rounded the corner, smile still plastered on his face, to find Steve staring at the TV screen. His expression looked angry, and as he turned his head to see Tony, it moved to furious. Tony's smile faded quickly, curious as to what had upset Steve so much.

"Hey, I thought you were out?" Tony stated, shrugging off his jacket, and laying over the back of the couch.

"I was." Steve spat, glaring at Tony. "Then I came here to see _you_ , but you were out so I thought I'd just watch TV until you came home. I thought I watch the news, find out what was going on in the world."

Tony's heart skipped a beat. No, no, no. He didn't, he couldn't have. There were fifty possible news channels Steve could choose from on the Tv, the only way it could be _that_ one is if it's all some sick coincidence, and the universe just wanted to screw with him.

"Steve," Tony started, seriously. "Which did you watch?"

"I _watched_ the one which had you tonguing some reporter!" Steve shouted, standing up quicker than Tony knew possible.

His blood ran cold. No, no, _no_. That wasn't fair. It was not freaking _fair_! Of all the channels he could've turned on, it had to be _that_ one. The one with the pretty reporter, and their kiss all over it.

"Steve," Tony said quietly, "Please let me explain."

" _Explain what_?" Steve yelled, his eyes full of fury.

"It wasn't...It didn't...She wasn't...There isn't..." Tony stuttered.

"This is stupid!" Steve shouted, " _I_ 'm so freaking stupid. You know, I turned Bucky down. When he first came back he asked me if I wanted to go back to how things were between me and him, if I wanted to be more than friends again. I said _no_ , because I was with _you_ , and I cared. I freaking gave a damn about you! I thought we had something between us! But clearly not!"

Tony could feel the tears prickling his eyes. People had broken up with him before-of course, not as often as he had broken up with other people, but it had happened-and it had felt pretty crappy before, too. But never, _never_ had it hurt this bad before. Never had it felt like his heart was being crushed inside his rib-cage, and in none of those times had he cried.

"Steve, please!" Tony begged, his voice breaking as the tears began to fall. "Steve-just let me explain. Please. _Please_..."

Steve stared at Tony. The Tony he had been all set to admit his love for just a few hours ago, who now he thought would be the second person to ever truly break his heart. He looked at Tony's tired eyes, and how they were wet with tears, and Steve remembered those tears. He cried those same ones when he heard Bucky was MIA. Those were the tears that meant you gave a damn, and that you were breaking under the pressure of it.

"Fine." Steve spat, still glaring.

"I was...bored." Tony began, taking deep breaths in and out, trying to calm himself down enough to be aliterate. "So I decided to go that fundraiser they were holding for the deaf. I thought, if I made an appearence it would make up for the fact that I'd been AWOL for a few months. Then as I was leaving, that reporter stopped me. She wanted an interview. I figured, why not? An interview would be good for publicty. Anyway, then she brought up dating, and I could hardly say I'd been dating you for the last year-"

"-One year, two months and eight days." Steve muttered under his breathe.

"You've been counting." Tony whispered, smiling.

"This reporter asked you about dating." Steve repeated, kicking himself mentally for letting down his guard.

"Right, so I just made something up. Something that made me sound good. Only my PA wasn't satisfied, she wanted me to go further. She wanted me to really leave my mark on the press. So I..." Tony trailed off, looking away.

Hearing himself, he knew how ridiculous he sounded. 'My PA told me to do it', how freaking stupid. The award for world's worst excuse goes to Tony Stark, for managing to beat even the old classic of 'my dog ate my homework'.

"This was...a publicity stunt?" Steve frowned, trying to meet Tony's eye.

Tony looked up and shrugged, "Yeah. It meant nothing." He moved forward so that he was in front of Steve, and took one of his hands into his own. "She means nothing to me, okay. _You_. You mean something to me. You mean a lot to me. Damn it, you mean everything to me!"

Steve looked down into his eyes, bright blue meeting a delicious shade of chocolate. Steve sighed. Yeah, yeah Tony meant everything to him too. And he got that it was a publicity stunt, and the whole thing was kind of his own fault for not wanting to be 'out'.

Tony sighed, too. This was it, his last shot. Probably the last chance he'd ever get to say it, to tell Steve the whole, entire truth. To be honest with him, and to bare his soul. To say it one time at least before Steve told him where to shove is dumb relationship.

"Steve I..." Tony breathed, looking away for a second, before meeting Steve's questioning gaze. "Steve Rogers, I love you."

That was it, no going back now. No denying it, and lying. No saying it was just a fling that lasted longer than flings should, and no saying that Steve meant barely anything to him. There was no running and hiding from it now, no room for regret.

Steve's heart was beating hard. His pulse wast faster than he thought was medically possible, and he could hear it in his ears. A constant thump along side the echoing of the words he'd just heard, those words he could never unhear. That was it, now or never. He breathed in deeply.

"I love you too." He breathed, and every word meant something so much more.

They weren't just a statement, they were a promise. They were something that Steve truly believed in, and that he was willing to risk everything for. They were his truth, and his honesty, and his words. They were everything he had ever felt for Tony in one sentence. They were everything.

"Yeah?" Tony asked grinning, eyes wide.

"Yeah. Yeah, Tony Stark I love you!" Steve exclaimed, smiling wider than he ever remembered.

He leant down and pressed a hard kiss onto Tony's lips. It deepened when Tony kissed back, all passion and tongues and feelings, twisted emotions turned into something so tragically beautiful. A war veteran and a playboy billionaire with too much spare time on his hands, brought together by fate and a wrong number, now something so much more.

Steve spent the night with Tony, doing things that they would never share with anyone, but that didn't matter. It didn't matter that Steve didn't want to be 'out', or that Tony would have to do more 'publicity stunts', all that mattered was them. How their bodies moved together like they were made for each other, and how niether could remember what they had even fought about. Because that was their love, and they were stuck in it. Helplessly, hopelessly, and without a shred of doubt.

 **A/N Please review and let me know what you think, thanks for reading!**

 **-Favefangirl**


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